Less Is More

Who says an effective home gym requires gobs of expensive and bulky equipment? Not T.J. Acree, that’s for sure. His entire home exercising setup fits in his living room, is easy to store away and probably set him back less than $40.
Allow me to clear up any confusion: T.J.’s home “gym” consists of a medicine ball, an exercise mat, a stability ball and the occasional dinning room chair or coffee table. And if you think that just doesn’t cut it as a legitimate home gym setup, consider this: Acree is a professional football player. He is a wide receiver for the Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League. His career has spanned three years so far, including a championship run with the British Columbia Lions.
Even though he plays in Canada, his name is well known amongst the Idaho sport circles. He played prep ball in Pocatello, and was standout play maker with the Boise State Broncos from 2000 to 2004. He and his family currently live in Eagle.
Acree shrugs off the notion that getting and staying fit requires a significant financial investment. Instead, he says, basic exercise know-how is enough to get anyone in shape.
“The help isn’t in the hundreds and thousands of dollars worth of equipment, it’s in the knowledge – and you can apply that to a brick.”
Acree, who earned All-American strength and conditioning honors during his BSU playing days, is no stranger to strenuous exercise regiments. To prove it, he can bench press nearly 300 pounds, has squatted about 500 pounds and can consistently run the 40-yard dash in 4.44 seconds (in comparison, Jerry Rice, one of the NFL’s all-time greatest wide receivers, reportedly ran the same distance in 4.7 seconds before his pro career started). And even though he has hoisted plenty of weight plates during his college and professional careers, he doesn’t downplay basic bodyweight exercises.
“Football players lift weights for absolute strength, but a lot of people aren’t lifting weights to get strong, they’re lifting to look good and get into shape,” he said. “Movement is movement, if you’re working (your body), you’re working it – there’s no way around that.”
And if that’s not convincing enough, keep in mind that he supplemented his brief high school weight-training sessions with brutal at-home routines.
“My career was made in the basement,” he said.